Posts with info or tips on various types of braiding materials.
‘Couvert’ braids and other tubular loop braids that can be braided around a pre-existing core (or not)! At Braids 2025 I’ll be teaching a 15th C. method, and a very different and almost unknown 17th C. one that can be used with a wide variety of braids – even a square braid!
Two different types of beater-stands for loop braiding extra-long braids are shown in images from Japan, Egypt, and Bulgaria on Masako Kinoshita’s old online journal L-MBRIC (plus an eyewitness report from Morocco)!
An all-history post: Which braids belong to which era? Which ones are ‘made up’? Can a braid be ‘period’ if it’s not in the old manuscripts? Information on the known loop braiding manuscripts, differences and similarities between braids of different eras, recent historical and archeological findings, what’s happening with LMBRIC, more. Also info on traditional fibers – types of silk, linen, wool, etc.
I’ve always been fascinated by braiding machines, so I couldn’t resist the new hand-crank toy by Spin Master / Cool Maker that makes a real Kumihimo braid called Kongoh-gumi! It’s not much like the antique hand-crank braiding machine that I was lucky enough to see and crank at Braids 2012…
Dominic will be teaching knotting at Braids 2016! His 2-day class is called Cylindrical Braids, which refers to nautical-type knotted ‘braids’ that can be formed around solid objects—like handles of tools, etc.
The first photos I’ve received back since sending my Nun’s Book letterbraid tutorial out into the braiding ether! —Of knots as well as letters…
Thanks Chris, Caroline, Dan, Terry, Traci, Colleen, Faustine for sending me your braid photos!
This is a ‘what I’ve been braiding lately’ post. It’s a letterbraid variation that I came up with last summer on a camping trip—an eighteen-loop version of the 17th Century letterbraid of fourteen loops. (Click on photos for more detail)…
This is a photo-tutorial in PDF form on 3-loop braids that I made last year for another site. It includes instructions for 3 very different-looking variations of 3-loop braids. You can scroll through the tutorial, or download it as a free pdf file. Extra info, including videos and suggestions for materials are below the photo-tutorial. Enjoy!
A couple of months ago, when I had to make some sample braids for an article, I decided to try a waxed cotton cord I had seen online. I wanted to use something stiffer than embroidery floss, something that would really show the structure of the braids.
This is an incredible finger loop braid from the 14th Century! It’s only known from a single museum artifact somewhat older than the 15th C. loop braiding manuscripts. This braid is amazingly similar to a Japanese kute-uchi braid that was made by a completely different method…
Loop Braiding 